At Least One Legacy Artist Has No Time For a Digital Tip Jar -- The Selecter's Pauline Black Speaks

In a series of columns I have proposed to old and new artists the idea of a digital tip jar . Most gave it a thumbs up. The concept is simple, an additional, direct-to-artist means by which fans listening to streaming music could add a few dollars to the tiny amounts of compensation artists are receiving from that stream. Artists as diverse as Southside Johnny, Graham Parker, James McMurtry and Al Di Meola think the idea has merit, as do a handful of newer artists to whom I posed the concept.

But like all innovations, not everyone concurs. Pauline Black is the iconic frontwoman of The Selecter, a dynamic band that sprung from the vaunted 2-Tone era in Britain. Last year the band celebrated the 35th anniversary of its seminal debut album Too Much Pressure by hitting the road in the US and UK to play the record front-to-back while spreading its message of activism for unity. In a couple months the band will release their next full length album, called Daylight.

The Selecter's new album is slated for release in October, 2017The Selecter

Black’s trepidation about the digital tip jar is reflective of the theme underscoring the band’s recent single “Frontline.” The song dropped earlier this month, and sorts through the issues the internet spawns: consumerism, social media and how we interact online in the modern world. “Frontline” asks the question: “Can we really reduce peoples’ lives to hashtags?” The video is one of the more clever song interpretations I have seen in a while.

The Selecter just started a massive world tour, that sees them playing gigs right up to Christmas Eve. But before their first gig of the tour, Black found time to provide me her thoughts on the digital tip jar. The questions opened up a floodgate about the music business.

Indeed, her answers reminded me of the title of the band's first big hit "Too Much Pressure."

Auerbach: what do you think of the idea of a tip jar for music streaming services?

Black: Music streaming is fast leading to a collapse of the music industry as I once knew it. My first tentative steps into the music business via The Selecter revealed that as a musician there would always be trade-offs with those who treated our creative lives as just endless fodder to fill their production lines. Musicians or 'creatives' as we are now creatively called, are the same as any other worker, our labour is exploited, we've always given away a percentage of our labour to those who give us a wage, our employers - that is what makes their profit margin in our capitalist world viable.

Prior to the internet, these employers were the ticks on the back of our monetised creative process, but although they sucked most of the money out of our symbiotic transaction in return for a paltry percentage, often as low as a 10% artist royalty, they provided the ability to distribute our music via video TV stations and hard copy devices like vinyl records and CDs. Musicians knew that they were being ripped off, but you still felt as though there was a point and a mutual respect in the weighted equation of making a living from writing your own music.

Now in the digital age, all people want all 'content', for free. Why? They don't access their food for free, they don't even access their air quality for free these days, so why should people access my work for free? To add insult to injury, I'm now reduced, via the 'tip jar' idea, to [being] no more than a busker on the street with an upturned hat on the floor, who hopes that through their efforts, they will be discovered by some music mogul and turned into the next Ed Sheeran. Dream on!

Auerbach: what do you like and not about the idea?

Black: As far as I'm concerned this idea is a non-starter. It devalues music and musicians alike. Even waiters and waitresses, who often have to rely on 'tip jars' to supplement their finances, make a wage for the work they do. Musicians are now being asked to forgo even that right. I've long considered that digital platforms like 'Kickstarter' and 'Crowdfunding' have helped decimate any structure to the music business. Far from providing that interface between fan and artist, it has lead to a situation where musicians almost feel as though they are 'whoring' their creative output. Desperate to make some money they are now prepared to jump through hoops to make themselves palatable, saleable and bland enough to position themselves in this hideous karaoke, post-X Factor marketplace that passes for the music business these days. Basically, the tail is now wagging the dog.

Auerbach: would it serve all artists, or only new artists?

Black: A 'tip jar' would serve nobody, however noble its intentions. It's just another business model for somebody to make money, in other words, exploit the work of others for profit. Musicians and their work should never be put on a par with charity.